Mel Gibson is a Racist?

Mel Gibson was arrested Friday after police stopped his 2006 Lexus LS 430 for speeding at 2:36 a.m. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said deputies clocked him doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, Whitmore said. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent. Gibson posted $5,000 bail and was released hours later.Apparently, Gibson asked on eof the policemen is he was a Jew and then proceeded to go on a harangue about Jews, part of his tirade apparently consisting of "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world". Rabbi Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the anti-defamation league, “If it’s true what’s reported, frequently hatred, bigotry and prejudice, which is controlled, explodes at moments of stress and crisis...Liquor loosens the tongue of what’s in the mind and in the heart, and in his mind and in his heart is his conspiracy theory about Jews and hatred of Jews”.

Gibson stated his contriteness when he remarked, "I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologize to anyone I may have offended". Additionally, Gibson stated that he has battled with alcoholism virtually all his life. But the damage is done. Allegations of his possibly anti-semitic behavior arose during the press surrounding his Passion of the Christ, which made him an extremely wealthy man seeing as he financing much of the film himself. During that time his father, Hubble Gibson, remarked that most of what is being said about the Holocaust is "fiction".

Apparently Gibson has been producing a six hour documentary on the Holocaust for television but this seems moot to reconstruct his image. The Lethal Weapon guy is an anti-semite! Its interesting how racism sprouts its ugly head. I wonder what kind of outrage will stir up as a result of this latest page in the bookof racism. Will the Jewish community (and others for that matter) be virulent in their quest to address this matter? Or will it be swept under the carpet? How will this incident effect Mel's box office revenue for his upcoming movie Apocalypto about the decline of the Mayan empire? Mel has surely made a lot of enemies as Hollywood is full of Jews but will the public respond to his to his hateful tirade or remain apathetic? I think this will be a good litmus test to see 1.) How Hollywood/public respond to stars and star systems that are publicly racist and 2.) How racism against certain groups is either rolerated more or virulently dealt with at a very public level. Time will most definitely tell.

chichi -- adj: Affectedly trendy

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